FLANDERS. There are two provinces of this name in Belgium, East and West.
East Flanders, is low and level. In many parts of the province there are beds of peat. The chief productions of the earth are wheat, rye, barley, oats, potatoes, flax, hemp, hops, madder, and tobacco. There is but little wood of large growth in the province. The chief manufactures are lace,linen and woollen cloths, bobbin net, silk, cordage, bricks, hats, soap ; and there are also cotton-factories, pot teries, sugar-refineries, distilleries, and brewe ries. GlIENT is the chief town. The manufactures are carried on chiefly at Ghent, Eecloo, Grammont, Lokeren, St. Nicholas, Ninove, Ondenarde, and Renaix.
West Flanders is admirably accommodated by inland navigation ; the most important of these are the canals between Ghent and Bruges, Bruges and Ostend, Dunkirk, Fumes, and Nieuport. The production and industrial occupations of the people are similar to those of East Flanders. The agriculture of this province, as well as that of East Flanders, is of the most perfect kind. The chief manu facturing towns are BRUGES and COURTRAI ; and besides these, various branches of indus try are carried on at Iseghem, Menin, Pope ringen, Itoulers, Thielt, Thourout, Ypres, and other towns.
The most fertile land, in both provinces of Flanders, is that of, the low districts which have been reclaimed from the sea by embank ments : it is chiefly composed of a muddy deposit mixed with fragments of marine shells and fine sea-sand. These lands are called polders, and their great natural fertility causes them to be cultivated with less art and industry than those lands which are much inferior. The usual rotation of crops in the polders consists of-1, Winter barley after a fallow ;-2, Beans; —3, Wheat Flax ;-5, Clover;-0, Pota toes. The polder farmer seldom thinks of
purchasing manure ; and even the ashes made by burning weeds are usually sold, to be sent to the poorer sandy soils, where their effects are more perceptible. In the tillage of the land the Flemings use few and very simple instruments. The common plough for light lands is a small light foot plough, which has no wheels and is drawn by one or two horses. In the stiffer soils the turn-wrest plough is sometimes used, made much smaller and lighter than the heavy Walloon plough. An instrument peculiarly Flemish is the traineau ; this is a wooden frame of a triangular shape, covered with boards, which is drawn over the ground to smooth the surface and press in the seed. The mollebaert is another Flemish instrument for levelling ground. The Hainault scythe and hook are generally used for reaping corn. The most important instrument in Flemish agriculture is the spade, which is used to a much greater extent than in England, and in some instances is the only instrument of tillage. Flax is everywhere a most impor..
tent crop, for it much exceeds all other crops in value. In most agricultural crops, the Flemish farmers contrive to do with a smaller amount of seed than the English.
In respect to the Industrial Exhibition of 1851, out of 509 intending exhibitors from the nine provinces of Belgium, 138 are from East and West Flanders. The products and manu factures to be exhibited comprise almost every possible variety.